Scratches of the Wind
Solo flute music from the Pacific Rim
Mark Takeshi McGregor, flute & alto flute
1 Nirmali Fenn: Scratches of the Wind (6:08)
2 Alfredo Santa Ana: Notgnirrac (8:25)
3 Eunho Chang: Sanjo III (10:29)
4 Ramsey Sadaka: O-hisa (10:33)
5 Chun-Ju Yen: Invisible Wings (8:00)
6 Chris Kovarik: At the Apartment on Broughton Street (6:11)
7 Rósa Lind Page: courbe dominante (12:33)
Total duration: 62:19
www.redshiftrecords.org © 2021 Redshift Music TK500
This album was always intended as a sequel to Lutalica, my 2019 album which looked at contemporary solo flute music from a Pacific Rim perspective. Scratches of the Wind continues its exploration of composers who live in (or hail from) Pacific Rim countries — but through the additional lens of the 2020/21 global pandemic. At a certain point in 2020, when public venues were shut and this album was less than half complete, I converted my bedroom into a recording studio and recorded the remaining tracks. I won’t reveal which pieces were recorded in the recital hall and which were recorded next to piles of unsorted laundry (and, thanks to some exceptional mastering, you’ll likely not notice the difference). Suffice to say, this album has extra meaning for me: it isn’t just the conclusion of a years-long exploration of identity and hybridity in music, but also the thing that kept me focussed, excited, and balanced at a time when arts events had completely ground to a halt and morale in the community was arguably at an all-time low.
Beyond the Pacific Rim theme, there is a strong sense of artistic migration that runs through Scratches of the Wind: many of these composers hail from one part of the world but now call another place home. As well, several of these works explore this idea of what Santa Ana calls “psychological and physical geographies”: Kovarik’s piece evokes a specific Vancouver location, Page looks to the rings of Saturn for inspiration, and Yen seems to go further still, taking us into the realms of the celestial.
released November 3, 2021
Producer / Réalisateur: Mark Takeshi McGregor
Recording engineers / Preneurs de son:
Santa Ana, Fenn, Yen: Don Harder
Chang, Sadaka, Page: Mark Takeshi McGregor
Kovarik: Piotr Wieczorek
Digital editing and mastering / Montage numérique et gravure:
Santa Ana, Fenn, Yen: Don Harder
Chang, Sadaka, Page, Kovarik: Piotr Wieczorek
Overall album mastering: Don Harder
Cover artwork / Œuvre de couverture: 'Write Me a Note (Inspired by the 80s)' by/par Nancy Blanchard
Photograph / Photo: Lenora Ede
Graphic design / Conception graphique: André Cormier
Translation / Traduction: André Cormier
Recording details / Détails de l’enregistrement:
Various dates / dates diverses 2019, 2020, 2021
Pyatt Hall, VSO School of Music, Vancouver
Mark’s bedroom, Vancouver
Special thanks / Remerciement:
Piotr Wieczorek, Sean McGregor, Shizu Hayashi and Ronald Hunt, Jordan Nobles & Redshift Music Society, Farshid Samandari & Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, Nancy Blanchard, André Cormier, Don Harder, Lenora Ede, Alfredo Santa Ana, Ramsey Sadaka, Chris Kovarik, Bernardo Gonzáles Burgos & Kiné Producciones, Antonio García Acosta & Museo Leonora Carrington.
Scratches of the Wind is dedicated to the memory of Peter John McGregor
This recording was made possible through the generous assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Cet enregistrement a été rendu possible grâce à la généreuse assistance du Conseil des arts du Canada.
redshiftrecords.org/releases/tk500/